MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) Thousands of Somalis carried images of Osama bin Laden and placards criticizing American policy toward the Muslim world during a demonstration Sunday that the government tried to discourage.

Hundreds of members of the new police force stood by as Sheikh Ahmed Dhisow, an influential Muslim leader, told the crowd that Muslims were willing to grant peace to those who gave them peace but said 'we will make those who keep provoking Islam our enemy."

One of the placards read: 'If America wants her women and children to live in peace, they should also give some peace to their Muslim and black communities."

Another, expressing widespread criticism of U.S. support for Israel, said: 'Osama is only suspected, but (Israeli Prime Minister) Ariel Sharon is a known criminal, so why doesn't America want to arrest Sharon?"

U.S. officials say they hold bin Laden, a Saudi dissident living in exile in Afghanistan, responsible for running an international terrorist network and for masterminding the deadly Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.

U.S. officials have also blamed bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist group for the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa and for attacks on U.S. troops in Somalia in 1993.

The several dozen expatriate aid workers working for the European Union or U.N. agencies in Somalia have begun pulling out of the country where the dilapidated minivans that serve as public transport are plastered with images of bin Laden.

Opponents of President Abdiqasim Salad Hassan have accused him and his government of receiving financial backing from bin Laden, a charge the government denies.

Deputy Prime Minister Osman Jama Ali Kalluun said Sunday that the government is ready to cooperate with the United States in the fight against international terrorism.

'We have no relation with Osama bin Laden, and he will never be allowed to come to Somalia," he said, alluding to the possibility that bin Laden might seek refuge in the war-torn nation in the Horn of Africa if he were obliged to leave Afghanistan.

Until Abdiqasim and 245 legislators were elected at a peace conference in neighboring Djibouti in August 2000, Somalia had no central government since 1991 when the country was plunged into chaos following the ouster of President Mohamed Siad Barre.

Sheikh Mohamud Sheikh Ibrahim Suley, another Muslim leader and rally organizer, said the gathering in this Muslim nation was not meant to support one man but to protest 'malicious behavior against Islam in general."

Many participants expressed disbelief that a single man like bin Laden could have organized the massive attacks on the United States.